CHAP. VII. NATIVE LIZARDS AND BIRDS. 179 



kinds growing not only on the branches of living trees, but 

 very often high up on the bare barked trunks of the dead 

 trees. Sometimes in the angle formed by the junction of an 

 arm with the trunk of a large naked tree, ajjparently without 

 a fragment of bark adhering to the trunk, a bunch of moss, 

 or a cluster of orchids, or both mingled together, would be 

 growing apparently with great vigour, and often in full 

 flower. More than one tall bare trunk, twelve or eighteen 

 inches in diameter, and thirty feet high, stood surmounted, 

 or surrounded near its summit, by a cluster of angraecums, 

 with their long, sword-shaped, fleshy leaves ; or, what was 

 more beautiful still, a fine specimen of some species of birds- 

 nest fern. The contrast between the white, shining, barkless 

 trunk, and these verdant clusters of plants on the top, was 

 sometimes very striking ; especially as the orchids were often 

 in flower, and by their growth altogether suggested the idea 

 that by the decay of their own roots a receptacle was 

 formed for the moisture or the rain by which the plant was 

 nourished. This combination of life and death, growth and 

 decay, presented one of the most singular amongst the many, 

 to me, new and curious aspects of nature which my journey 

 afforded. 



I saw few animals, except lizards, of which there were 

 great numbers amongst the stones and trees, some of the 

 richest emerald green, others speckled or marked in lines, 

 but the greatest portion were of a lightish brown. Birds 

 were comparatively numerous, and there were some of gay 

 and attractive plumage. The largest was a compact-shaped, 

 lively bird, apparently the black-throated crow shrike. On 

 the trunks of the trees I observed some resembling wood- 

 peckers, also a handsome bird about the size of a jay, re- 

 sembling some kinds of the butcher-bird ; its plumage red, 

 brown, and yellow. Far from being shy or disturbed by our 

 approach, they seemed rather to welcome us ; as I noticed 



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